May 2017

Duke University’s Young Americans for Liberty chapter recently had the honor of hosting Dr. Greg Brannon. Dr. Brannon, a self-described classical liberal, is a former candidate for the United States Senate from North Carolina, and the host of the Brannon Broadcast radio show. During his Senate campaigns, he received endorsements from people as far apart Ron Paul and Ann Coulter.

After I briefly introduced him to our small, but captivated audience, Dr. Brannon spoke about liberty and the importance of constitutionalism in our current political climate. But, the primary focus of the event was a long question and answer session, sparking a great deal of debate between students and Dr. Brannon. Despite only speaking to a crowd of 11, the Q and A lasted for almost an hour. Brannon’s commitment to non-aggression in foreign policy was a hot topic that conservative students engaged in fierce battle with Dr. Brannon over, with both Brannon and the students going so far as to argue over Biblical scriptures and their meanings. Fortunately, the audience was very well prepared and engaged, so much so that the conversation continued as we walked Dr. Brannon back to his car.

Overall, the students who showed up got, not only a break from studying for finals, but whole new perspectives on issues ranging as far as public works to the necessity of American involvement in the Second World War. We look forward to hosting Dr. Brannon again in the near future on our campus, and hopefully reaching a larger audience of people across the political spectrum. The entire event can be found at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HtTuicPYYvA

The Fairfield University's Young Americans for Liberty chapter is establishing a foundation to launch our chapter on campus. We're in the early steps of creating a plan to present to FUSA, the representative association of the undergraduate student body which permits and funds student run organizations. Once we're recognized as an organization on campus, our biggest concern is finding a "market" of students on campus. We're currently aware of a Turning Point USA chapter that is also attempting to form on our campus. We encourage other political organizations to form on campus, but this will create competition to acquire club members and a following. A possible solution to this that we're considering is to collaborate with the Turning Point chapter and to attempt to grow together.

I held my first tabling recruitment drive for Portland Community College's coming active YAL chapter from 9-5 earlier today and it was a blast! I was able to talk to multiple people about YAL and the philosophy of liberty, hand out plenty of pocket Constitutions and pamphlet sheets, and personally practice my extrovert skills. I didn't come out with many sign ups, but more than enough for school recognition and still more than I expected based on intuition and the political demographics of my college. There were many people who were genuinely interested and even two non-libertarians tried to talk to their friends about the group for the sake of diversity of thought. I am happy to help spread the word of liberty and am looking forward to holding a few meetings and a tabling event or two more in by the end of this term to spread the message the best that I can!

Today the Farmingdale chapter of YAL held it's first event! We started in the student union, and made our way over to the student-living quad. We talked about the constitutional principles that America was founded on and had a lot of support! We are excited about going into next school year with a good list of potential members. Most of all, we are very excited to pursue liberty on the FSC campus!!!

The Young Americans for Liberty Chapter for the University of Washington Tacoma is proud to host its first ever event! "College campuses today are hotbeds for violent crimes as many students are disarmed by their states and/or universities. Colleges have become victim-rich zones due to guns at most all campuses, as well as knives, stun guns, and pepper spray being banned at other campuses." This is why this YAL chapter is putting on a Self Defense seminar for students and community members! This recent presidential election has left many in great fear. We wish to counter that fear with empowerment through self-defense!

The seminar will be hosted by local instructors Brad Pole and Michelle Wagner!

Brad Pole is a Brazilian Jiu Jitsu Purple belt and has trained martial arts for several years. He is the head instructor for Elevate Martial Arts in Yelm Washington and has trained many amateur and professional fighters! Brad has an extensive background in many different martial arts including wrestling, kickboxing, Jiu Jitsu and is excited to assist in this self-defense seminar. Michelle Wagner is a Brazilian Jiu jitsu Black Belt.

It is a great honor to have Brad Pole and Michele Wagner come to our University to empower our students and community members through self-defense. Following the seminar there was a talk on Empowerment for women, and a public dinner at a local restaurant.

Ursinus wrapped up the semester with a free speech wall! We constructed the wall in the school's wood shop; all of the materials were purchased at the local Home Depot the previous week. We stapled two large rolls of paper on the wall that overlapped each other. The overlap created a lit bit of a "hook" for our sharpies to hang from, so students could just walk up and write on the wall as they pleased.

We tabled next to the wall for about 6 hours and garnered several sign ups. We promoted our screening of "Can We Take a Joke?" that night. The event was a huge success and this is the 5th time we have done a free speech wall in the past 3 years. It has become a huge hit on campus. Many students tell us that they look forward to the free speech wall every semester. The screening that night had about 15 students in attendance and was followed with a fruitful discussion about free speech.

This was our last event of the semester and we cannot wait to carry the momentum into next semester with Hannah Engber as our new President!

Way back when on April 4th 2017 UWT held its first ever AX the TAX event on campus! It was a huge success as students from all over campus stopped by to learn about the liberty movement and take photos. Many were ready to jump up and take photos with the Ax, while others needed a little encouragement. From the supplies we received, the UWT YAL chapter was able to run a very successful event. We were able to reach out to some of the freshmen on campus and get them involved in the liberty movement. It was refreshing to see new youth activists get energized about changes on campus and realizing that there is an organization that gives them a voice! It looks like the UWT chapter will be able to run many more successful events in the future. This was a great event and everyone had lots of fun in the sun learning about liberty and being able to AX THE TAX!!

Hello! My name is Kenny Zeng. I am the president for my chapter of YAL at Hunter College. Hunter College a part of CUNY, or the City University of New York. For decades, students who held libertarian views, endured criticisms from both the left and right. Specifically, at the City University of New York, where I argue is the liberal campus of NYC, we as liberty lovers have tried to hide our true views on liberty. However, starting in the Fall of 2017 semester, I believe that is going to change. More precisely, my chapter and I are going to try to expand the liberty movement at Hunter College. Our overall mission is to introduce ideas of freedom and liberty to all CUNY schools in NYC. Although I am a graduate student, I plan on chartering an undergraduate club, where our members will be able to slowly but radically introduce these ideas to the NYC community. At our team, we will have renown right wingers who love liberty. At the same time, they are mainly Economics, History, English, and Philosophy majors who will shake up the establishment of CUNY. Finally, I will discuss a brief biography of how I embraced the ideas of liberty. When I attended high school, my teachers indoctrinated me into believing that big government was the answer. More precisely, following the economic crisis of 08, which I argue big government caused, my teachers and peers who love big government argued that it was the free market which led to the financial meltdown. However, I would argue that their reasoning is a bunch of nonsense. Once I entered college, I began to read works which argued for the opposite of what my teachers told me. An example would include The Road to Serfdom. To sum things up, the failures of both the Bush and Obama administrations led me to embrace these ideas of liberty. Please do not hesitate to contact me and my chapter if you have questions.

The SUNY Plattsburgh has had a great first semester starting out. Recruitment has been successful. We recruited about 8-10 members. All members are extensively behind freedom principles such as freedom of speech and lower taxes. A portion of the club even attended our first summit that took place in Boston(we had a great time). Our club is still young and we are looking to try and get recognized by our school.

UVM Young Americans for Liberty is an active chapter of around 10 members. Right now the chapters main goal is achieving recognition for the University of Vermont (all we really need is a faculty adviser). A transfer of leadership will occur at the beginning of the Fall 2017 semester.